Passport West Series

Intensive course with Robin “Bountourabi” Leftwich. Designed to meet the demands we’ve been hearing from you! The course will include rhythms, technique, playing ballet dununs, meter madness, traditional and improvisational solos, and more.

Passport West classes are Saturdays from 9 AM – 4 PM in Asheville, North Carolina. Note: there is also a Passport Series in High Point. Open to all skill levels.

The cost is $100 per workshop. Study materials and practice recordings are provided with each workshop. We accept cash, check, and credit cards. Although we encourage you to take each workshop in succession for the best learning experience, it is not required. Students who have taken the class before, please call or email about continuing ed options.

Register & Pay for Passport West Series here:

Workshops

Online registration and payment is preferred, but we do offer the option to pay at the door. If you wish to pay at the door, you must register first by emailing rachel@happybeatdrumming.com. Indicate the class(es) you wish to attend the the form of payment you will be using. You will receive a confirmation email with your registration information. You may also call (336) 880-3536 to register or receive additional information about the series.

Students attending Passport Classes will receive a Passport Series Certificate of Completion once your Passport Book has been stamped with attendance verification for all 8 sessions. Don’t have a Passport Book? Ask for one at the next session. We will also gladly stamp your book and issue a certificate to you for classes completed prior to the booklet program.

The course schedule is as follows:

Feb: Introduction and Foundational Rhythms

Foundational rhythms are rhythms that every student should know because they contain elements fundamental to learning West African music (timing, handing, patterns, etc ) that can be used as building blocks to accelerate further learning.

During the Foundational Rhythms class we will cover the following:
History of the rhythm
Djembe and Dunun parts
Rudiments and improved sound/technique
Reading/Writing djembe/dunun music
And much more

Rhythms that Build

In this session, students will learn how to use rhythms as building blocks – exploring the similarities between rhythms that allow for a natural progression of learning and teaching. Students will be taught rhythms that are easily learned from their pre-existing knowledge of foundational rhythms.

May 21 (Sunday): Meter Madness

In this session, students will learn rhythms in duple and triple meter timing – exploring the use of 4 and 8 beat rhythms along with the accompanying language with both meters to facilitate in playing and leading rhythms inside both meters.

June 24: Ballet Dunun, Dunun

The Ballet Dunun and dunun class will begin with basic dunun techniques and then move into more complex rhythms. The day will end with students learning how to translate traditional dunun parts to a ballet-style setup. Being able to play ballet dununs allows students to hold classes and drum circles with fewer people, gives students flexibility in performances, and provides them with a deeper understanding of the dunun melodies and the relationship of the dununs to the djembe.

July 15: Do-able Dununbas

The dununba family of rhythms is both rich and complex. This class is designed to expose students to a dununba rhythm and to help them understand the intricacies of playing the djembe and dunun parts. This class will also help students play more challenging dunun parts that are upbeat and completing.

August 12: Improvisational Solos

This class will teach you how to use traditional solos as a starting point for building your own improvisational solos. Basic techniques and common solo licks will be revealed to the students who will then have the opportunity to practice soloing in a failure-free environment.

Traditional Solos

In this class, students will learn some traditional solos. Traditional solos are solos that are developed around traditional dance moves/steps and are specific to a rhythm. The solos will help the student be able to drum for dancers and will also act as building blocks for improvisational solos.

Performance class

The rubber hits the road in the Performance class. The Performance class is a culmination of the work done so far in the passport series. This class will take 2 rhythms and create performance pieces that are ready to go by the end of the day.